Vamizi Island
Serena Reid-Scott, Destination Expert
As we boarded the new dive boat at Vamizi Island, Paulo the divemaster spotted a splash in the water close to the reef. He told us to quickly get on as it was a manta ray feeding on the plankton. Off we went and watched this majestic creature fly around and beneath the boat. It was so intent on its feeding that we were given the go ahead to slip into the water and snorkel with it- how graceful and beautiful it looked as it circled us, not remotely interested in us but only in its feeding. We could have stayed with it for hours but decided to leave and carry on with our mission to go and see Vamizi's best dive site.
This site is utterly awe-inspiring. Not only for its marine life but for its topography.
As we did a negative entry from the boat and went straight down we were met by a wall that starts at 10 metres and drops to over 500. The coral growth is exceptional -stuffed full of different species of Acropora in immaculate condition, and as we dropped down further along the wall a forest of gorgonians fans. We leveled out at about 30 metres and the most extraordinary sight emerged in front of us. Hundreds of snappers, clouds of them moving in one major mass, and in between these huge Potato Bass inquisitively looking at us. Then in the big blue- sharks. These are Grey Reef sharks mostly pregnant females, circling just beyond us. We must have counted over 30 of them, as we just hovered and took in this incredible aggregation of sharks. Sadly all too quickly it was time to go up.
Looking out onto the vast Indian Ocean and not another boat in sight, we were all left to our own thoughts on our way home.
